Darren (Chaos Chronicles)
.]] Darren was a patent clerk down on his luck and fired from his job. On his walk home he was mauled by a demon fighting Mark and repaired with advanced machinery from his organization. His injuries included the loss of his nose, loss of left side of head, left arm and heavy scarring on the chest. Injuries After having been fired during the recession of 2008, Darren was walking home by himself and remarked that the day could get no worse. As he said this, he heard sounds of a commotion and investigated while other nighttime pedestrians meandered away. He found a snakelike demon facing a man in armor. Darren attracted the beast's attention, and was attacked. He stabbed the creature with a combat knife the soldier had dropped, but the demon healed almost instantly and tore into Darren. The soldier recovered and captured the demon's essence in a containment capsule. The soldier discovered Darren was still alive despite horrendous wounds and called for emergency pickup. In the Chronicle After Darren's wounding in the opening of Nightmare Being, he is propelled on a long journey of fighting demons. Nightmare Being Darren dreams of a dripping red cavern and something moving in the darkness that calls his name. The voice warns him when he wakes will be surrounded by enemies who will ty to poison his mind. He awakens after being operated on by the Doc and his assistant. He is initially terrified by his newfound appearance although he quickly grows to find his new strength enjoyable. Doc is worried Darren finds his power too enjoyable, but Darren had no power before. He was not a strong man, he was not a smart man. He had been fired, he had nothing to his name. Now he cannot help but enjoy his newfound power. Darren is introduced to the man who saved his life, Mark. He is introduced to the secret society that exists to combat demons. He is overwhelmed at first but quickly adapts to the situation. He is given an introductory presentation which explains the foundation of this society. 97 years ago, a portal to another dimension had opened which allowed demons into this world. In that world, they exist as an essence, and crossing through the gate allows that essence to pack on meat and bone into a corporeal body. Destroying the body sends the essence back through the portal, but as long as it remained open they could always just cross back, making them just about impossible to kill. The society was formed to shut down the gate. That night, Darren dreams of the cavern again. The voice's owner becomes more visible and asks for Darren's trust. Darren recognizes the creature as another demon, and defies him. The voice warns him that refusal will result in punishment. Darren is awoken to alarms. The compound is under attack. Darren is still recovering from his operation, but feels personally responsible and rushes to the defense. A single demon made of shifting smoke moves from man to man, taking the form of his worst fear. Mark distracts it, and it shifts into a drakon, the sight of which paralyzes Mark with fear. Darren attacks it and it changes shape from a giant centipede to a giant serpent. Mark returns and destroys the beast with incendiaries. The smokey form reappears and focuses on Darren, beginning to shift into his fear. Darren holds his breath but Mark sucks the creature's essence into a containment capsule. In the aftermath, Mark confesses that the drakon was a demon that killed his whole team. He has sworn revenge on it, but is ashamed he was so afraid. If it had been him alone, facing the real one, he would be dead. Darren realizes that monsters are not able to be killed and this implies the existence of another gate. Darren has another dream, and Doc interrogates him afterward, revealing the owner of the voice to be the Demon King. Blood Beast Darren awakens from another dream to find a dead man in the hallway outside, his face full of holes and drained of blood and brain. Doc checks out the security footage and can catch a glimpse of a tentacled creature taking the man by surprise and burrowing it's tendrils into his head. Doc believes this demon has the power to open portals independently between the demon universe and ours. Darren suspects the Blood Beast is the true punishment the Demon King alluded to, and not the Nightmare Being. Darren rushes off to respond to a distress signal from Mark, who says an outbreak has occurred. An acidic demon's essence has taken form and is massacring soldiers in the dungeon. During the fight, a portal opens and the demon slithers through it. Mark and Darren run through to find the Blood Beast. The demon slithers away and Mark spies a bulbous gelatinous mass resting on the red stone. A thick, dripping tendril lashes out and knocks Mark down. Before it can kill him, Darren attacks it and his hand is crushed. He is pulled into the demon's embrace but continues fighting. Doc and his assistant appear and pull Mark through the portal before it can close. Mark reveals the Blood Beast and Darren are still locked in combat, but the portal has closed. Mark resolves to rescue Darren and get there "the hard way." Lake of Evil When Mark, Tom and the other elite soldiers finally track down the Blood Beast, they find he is still fighting Darren, although the fight has devolved into more of a hunt at this point as Darren's arm has been ripped off and the only reason he is still alive is because the metallic shell on his face has shielded him from being feasted on by the Beast. The elite soldiers engage the Blood Beast and Tom helps Darren. Mark and the elites pound the Blood Beast with heavy firepower and Mark cries out that the Beast is down, but a tentacle punches through the back of his head and comes out his mouth. Mark's eyes roll back into his head and he is pulled into the demon's embrace. Realizing they cannot kill it with the weapons they have, Tom pulls his team out. Darren cries out for Mark, but is too weak to resist Tom's elites pulling him out of the cave. They pass back through the rift where Mark and Tom had earlier noticed a horde gathering and find it empty. They emerge from the Lake and are brought home. Doc repairs Darren again, giving him upgraded technology including implements which extend from his arm such as a shield and gun or extendable length. Darren and Doc discuss the possibility of grafting such technology onto other soldiers, such as the elites. Doc says it is difficult to find volunteers to replace their limbs with weapons. Darren muses over the possibility of an exosuit. They reminisce over Mark's life and share a drink. However, their moment is interrupted by the arrival of a group of demons. Savage Kin Darren engages the demons, but finds he cannot kill them. He rips one to tiny pieces which he stomps down the drain, but it continually reforms. A flying demon attacks Doc, who shoots it to no effect. The bug cuts off Doc's head and Darren is forced into a corner by the ever-growing number of demons. A portal soon opens accompanied by a ear-rending hiss. The demons slink back through the portal. Darren is enraged by Doc's death and attempts to grab onto one of the fleeing demons, however a hand emerges from the portal and strikes at Darren. Darren flies across the chamber and collapses unconscious. The hand was shifting, smokey, with wormy fingers. He does not forget it. The Doc's assistant, Ellie becomes the new Doc, and the remaining soldiers mourn the losses of Doc and Mark. Demon Darkness Darren is a leading figure in the hunt to find the location of the Rift. The hunt leads into the abandoned subway tunnels of a major metropolitan city, and Darren bears witness to an army of demons led by a single commander. The Elites Darren helps Tom train his new team of Elites, complete with powerful new mechsuits developed by him and Ellie. Darren helps them train with their suits and prepare for a dangerous mission into the demon's world. Cavern of Fear During the foray into enemy territory, Darren is separated from the group temporarily. He hears something calling his name and believes it to be the Demon King, however he is shocked to see a decaying, maggot-like human approaching him. The ruined corpse of Mark, sustained and animated by the evil of this place. He has been deteriorating here for a long time. Mark wants to know why Darren left him. Mark came back for Darren, why didn't he do the same? Mark becomes aggressive and Darren nearly kills him, but hesitates. Mark is angry but also tired. He attacks Darren and Darren tries to immobilize him and the two grapple until a large demon arrives, attracted by the sounds of violence. Mark gapes in horror and Darren throws him off. It is a drakon, the same drakon that killed Mark's team and that he swore to destroy. Zombie Mark screams and tries to claw his way to safety but the demon leaps on him and snaps him up in his jaws. Blood pours from Mark's screaming mouth as the teeth crunch down on him and he is devoured. Darren tries to reconnect with Tom's Elites by following the sound of battle. An encounter with Soul Hound and his master sends Darren plummeting into the depths of the demon world. He follows a trail of death to the Demon King's deserted throne room. He witnesses a female demon conversing with the General he previously saw during the events of Demon Darkness. The female refers to him as Genarus and sends him off with orders to repel the incursion. After his departure, she makes it clear she was aware of Darren's presence. Darren cautiously emerges from hiding. She does not kill him, and is instead fascinated by him. He is part man, part machine. He stinks of death, and she can see that there is something delicious in his soul. Hate and anger. He does not deny it, but he says nothing to her. She makes him a proposal. If he wishes, he can leave here and join his comrades. They will die, and fail to close the rift. However, if he stays and becomes her consort, she will hide him and keep him under her protection. He will be able to study the demon court and learn their ways. Darren suspects she will never permit him to leave, and considers his options. The Abyss Darren is kept mostly in a deep chamber with the other secret consorts of the Queen, and he comes to know them well. It becomes clear that he is her favorite, and some are jealous but other say it is because he is new. He often walks with her and is provided exposition. On one such journey, she reveals that the demon universe is separate from hers. She and the King come from another place. She leads Darren through a savannah and into a mountain. The two find themselves on a rocky ledge on the wall of a crevice that drops off into black heat. Darren can see no bottom. He looks up and sees no top. The Queen confirms there is a top, but no surface. She and her kind come from the ones that live on the walls of the Abyss, and this is the original source of evil. There is one who lies at the bottom, and even her great husband fears him. Darren is also introduced to the Temple of the Grotesque. He asks her how they were able to walk from the demon universe to the Abyss. She shrugs and replies you can walk from anywhere to anywhere if you know the route. Darren finds that each coupling with the Demon Queen transforms him slightly, making him appear more demonic, leading to a grim realization. He later frees the other consorts and tells them the path he memorized to the Abyss. If they make it, they can flee through the Temple. Jackson, a small black man, is put in charge, a task he grimly accepts. The small band slips away on the route Darren described, and the cyborg waits alone in the chamber for the Queen to return. War of Terror Darren meets the Demon King once and for all. Tom, Jackson and the Elites secure the rift and cross over. Jackson wields the sword of Blade, but the Demon King shatters it and blinds Jackson. Shards of the sword embed themselves in Darren but they do not destroy either him nor Jackson. Darren finds that the power the Demon Queen has given him allows him to draw on the captured essences in the blade, shards of which are now embedded in him. He uses this power to first seal his wounds then to absorb the metal shards so they become a part of him. His body is flooded with a new, supernatural power. The Elites face the Demon King but cannot defeat him as he is too powerful. Tom is mortally wounded. Darren grabs the broken hilt of the sword and uses his extendable arm to stab the King in the back from a distance. The King is not vanquished so easily, but he falls nonetheless. Darren kneels beside him and tells the King he has become more powerful than he. As the King dies, Darren torments him by revealing what will happen in the future. He will absorb his essence, and grow stronger off it. Genarus will be made to answer to him, and he will change this place. Every essence he absorbs makes him stronger, and they are in no short supply. He will remake this world in the image of his own. As Darren speaks his eye becomes darker, his metallic parts begin to shrivel. The Demon King dies and the Elites regard Darren with fear, despite his promises that he is not their enemy. There is a truce now between worlds, and no more rifts will be opened. The humans leave with Tom and Jackson and the rift is sealed with Darren still inside. Darren mates with the Demon Queen and becomes the new Demon King, ruling over an entire reality. Place and Time The events of the Chaos Chronicles are widely regarded to take place in Universe A, and Universe A alone. Although the demons are later summoned on the Thrakr homeworld, there is no other attempts to incur onto human worlds, suggesting that the truce Darren forged lasted for the remainder of that reality. Darren's ultimate fate is unknown. It is suggested that he met his end at the hands of any number of entities stronger than he. However, assuming he lived for a considerably long time and continued to absorb demon essence, it is not impossible that he grew strong enough to leave some message that could appear in later timelines, warning demon-kind not to cross into Earth.